Hagios Constantinos(Fatih Camii)

Department Archive
Collection Byzantine Research Fund
Reference No. BRF/02/02/01/032
Level Item
Place Ainos
Dates ca. 1913
Donor/Creator Hasluck, Dr Frederick William
Scope and Content View of the south façade. This is a Hellenic Society photograph. It is numbered (H.S. 2926) and initialed (F.W.H) in pencil at the back. Further annotation in pencil survives.
Further information The city of Ainos (Enez) is located at the east bank of the river Hevros, Thrace. Although details of the early history of the settlement are obscure, the city was fortified by Justinian and functioned as the seat of an archbishopic and a metropolis. Since the end of the 11th c. is mentioned in the sources as a thriving trade centre. In 1355 the city came into the hands of the Gattelusii and witnessed a flurry of artistic activity, however, in 1469 it was burnt down by the Venetians and never recovered.

Several Byzantine and post-Byzantine churches were to be found in the city such as those of Hagios Gregorios (St Gregory) and Hagios Constantinos (St Constantine). The later is a large building of the cross-in-square type with open narthex at the west end located inside the acropolis.